When the wealthy Sterling couple came to our university to give a guest lecture, my childhood friend, Liam, was pulling me away, sneaking out to the university dining hall for our work-study shift. He called for me to grab an empty bucket from a shelf. The moment I took a step, live comments flooded my vision: [DO NOT TOUCH THAT BUCKET, IT’S FULL OF HOT SOUP LIAM PREPARED TO DISFIGURE YOU!] [THREE YEARS AGO, LIAM HELPED HIS FIRST LOVE REPLACE YOU AS THE LONG-LOST DAUGHTER OF THE STERLING FAMILY. NOW HE WANTS TO RUIN YOUR FACE SO YOU'LL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE TO RETURN HOME!] [POOR YOU, SUFFERING SEVERE FULL-BODY BURNS AND COUNTLESS SKIN GRAFT SURGERIES, ONLY TO BE POISONED BY THE FAKE HEIRESS WHO SWAPPED YOUR MEDICATION.] [AND THAT JERK LIAM MARRIED INTO THE STERLING FAMILY, WORKING WITH THE FAKE HEIRESS TO SWINDLE YOUR FAMILY OUT OF THEIR ENTIRE FORTUNE!] [GO BACK RIGHT NOW AND LET MRS. STERLING SEE YOUR FACE! THIS IS YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO BECOME THE TRUE HEIRESS!] I heard Liam urge me to hurry and grab the bucket. I glanced at the comments, hesitated, and froze in place. 1 "Emmy, what are you waiting for? Grab that bucket! I can barely hold these bags." Liam, my childhood friend for eighteen years, stood ten feet away, struggling with two bags of rice, calling out to me. The live comments continued to scroll wildly. [MY POOR PROTAGONIST, DO NOT TOUCH THAT BUCKET!] [RUN! YOUR FACE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE MRS. STERLING’S! IF YOU’RE DISFIGURED, YOU’LL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE TO GO HOME!] My legs trembled, and I slowly backed away. Liam urged me twice more. Seeing I hadn't moved, he took two steps closer himself. "Emmy, what's on your mind?" I forced my gaze away from the bucket and asked him, "Liam, I heard that Mr. Sterling, the Chairman giving the lecture today, found his long-lost daughter a few years ago?" Liam’s eyes visibly widened, but then he quickly shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "How would I know anything about rich people's affairs? All I know is if we don't finish this job, we won't get paid today." He continued to pressure me, but I simply sat down by the doorway. "I'm a little tired. Can I rest for two minutes?" Liam grew anxious. "Rest after you move the bucket." The more anxious he became, the more suspicious I grew. I didn't answer. I quickly pulled out my phone and searched. Sure enough, I found news about the Sterling family from three years ago. And the girl Mrs. Sterling was embracing and weeping over was none other than our mutual friend, Chloe Miller! No wonder Chloe changed her name to Chloe Sterling right after freshman year of college, telling me some fortune teller had given her the new name. I bit my lip and held my phone up to Liam, who was still urging me. "Isn't this Chloe?" Liam's throat went dry, and he averted his gaze. "Probably. I'm too busy with work-study; I don't pay attention to such things." He continued to press me. "Listen, hurry and move the bucket. After we're done, I'll take you for some street tacos near the entrance." He was changing the subject, he was guilty! My heart felt as if it had been clutched, then violently thrown off a cliff, plummeting rapidly. I was only two years old when I was abducted. A year after arriving at my new home, my adoptive parents abandoned me. At the orphanage, I met Liam, who was the same age. We grew up together, and even attended the same university. All these years, he had cared for me meticulously, saving money to buy me snacks, and taking me on trips during holidays. When some classmates mocked me for not having parents, he specifically learned martial arts, pinning down those who bullied me and making them apologize. Five years ago, he confessed his feelings to me, holding a bouquet of white roses, my favorite. He said he would be good to me forever, that we were each other's only family. I thought we would marry after graduation, and be together always. But it turned out that two years after I said yes to him, he arranged for another girl to take my place and be reunited with my biological family. "Liam, was I your first love?" I asked, trying to suppress the tremor in my voice. Liam lowered his head, meticulously wiping non-existent dust from a rice bag. "Of course, Emmy, you were my first love." [HE’S LYING AGAIN! THIS TWO-FACED JERK WHO DECEIVED THE PROTAGONIST DESERVES TO DIE!] A sourness welled up in my nose, and I disappointedly lowered my head. Chloe Miller entered the orphanage when we were ten. She was sweet-talked and pretty, always trailing after Liam, calling him "brother." Liam was annoyed at first, but gradually grew accustomed to it, always inviting her to eat and play with us. Thinking of the girl who always called me "Emmy Sis," I couldn't help but clench my fists. The two of them must have conspired behind my back, hiding the truth from me while setting her up to be the Sterling family’s daughter. And today, with the Sterlings here to give a lecture, Liam, fearing they'd recognize me, actually intended to disfigure me! No, I had to go back! I couldn't let them keep deceiving everyone! "Liam, I have a stomach ache; I need to go to the restroom." I left that excuse and walked away, heading straight for the auditorium. 2 In the auditorium, Mr. and Mrs. Sterling had just finished their speech, and Chloe Sterling stood on stage. Today, she wore a beautifully tailored, luxurious gown, with full makeup and meticulously styled hair, even her hairpins studded with diamonds. She spoke eloquently: "The Financial Aid Scholarship is a project I've poured my heart into. I'm grateful for my parents' support; without them, I wouldn't be who I am today, and this project wouldn't have helped so many students complete their studies. It's a shame, though, that a friend of mine hasn't received this scholarship for three years, and often bothers me privately..." She paused, then added, "But I want to say that opportunity is for those who are prepared." I knew she was talking about me. [WHAT A VICIOUS ANTAGONIST! THE PROTAGONIST DIDN'T FAIL TO GET IT BECAUSE SHE WASN'T SMART ENOUGH!] [EXACTLY! IT WAS ALL HER BEHIND-THE-SCENES MANIPULATION, DELIBERATELY MAKING THE PROTAGONIST FAIL TO MEET THE QUALIFICATIONS!] [SO SNEAKY! ONLY THOSE WHO RECEIVED THE SCHOLARSHIP COULD TAKE A PHOTO WITH THE STERLINGS; THEY WERE AFRAID OF BEING EXPOSED.] My heart skipped a beat. For three years, I had been ranked first in my major, but I always failed to meet the application criteria for various reasons. I had even privately complained to them. What did they say back then? "Emmy, our work-study wages are enough for this month's living expenses; don't worry." "Emmy Sis, don't be sad. You'll definitely get it next time!" They superficially comforted me, but in reality, they blocked my scholarship, preventing me from meeting my parents. I looked at my parents, who were gazing at Chloe with satisfied expressions, and opened my mouth to call out. Suddenly, a hand clamped over my mouth, pulling me back forcefully. "Emmy, this is an important event; don't cause trouble. Let's go back to work." [JERK! HE’S LIVING THE HIGH LIFE WITH CHLOE STERLING, YET HE STILL MAKES THE PROTAGONIST STRUGGLE WITH WORK-STUDY!] I recognized Liam’s voice and stomped on his foot. He cried out in pain, but his grip didn't loosen. On stage, Chloe noticed us. Her eyes widened for half a second, then she composed herself, turning to whisper something to Mrs. Sterling. Mrs. Sterling immediately frowned with concern and led her off the stage. [HOW INSIDIOUS! PRETENDING TO FEEL UNWELL TO AVOID EXPOSURE.] [SCHEMING WOMAN!] Seeing all three of them leave the stage, I bit down hard on Liam’s finger. The moment he loosened his grip, I ran towards the backstage area. [PROTAGONIST, RUSH! LET YOUR MOM SEE YOUR FACE!] Seeing the comments, I ran even faster. It turned out the world I was in was a novel about a true and a fake heiress. Today, I was supposed to be scalded by Liam with hot soup and sent to the hospital. Later, I would meet Mrs. Sterling in the hospital, realizing we looked exactly alike, but Chloe would turn her against me with a few words, making her disbelieve me. Liam would even deliberately show her someone else's photos, claiming that was what I actually looked like. This would make Mrs. Sterling despise my "lies," stop donating to the hospital, and refuse to see me. While I underwent skin graft surgeries in the hospital, Liam and Chloe would publicly begin a relationship outside, and Liam would even join the Sterling family's company. Finally, one day, my appearance would recover by thirty percent, and I would believe I could finally meet my parents. But then Chloe would poison me with a needle! After my death, Liam would marry into the family, and they would have a high-profile wedding. In the second year of their marriage, they would cause an accident to kill Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, successfully seizing all the Sterling family's assets. Poor me and my parents, all dead at their hands, without even a proper funeral, just left in the morgue. This shouldn't be the protagonist's fate, and my parents should certainly not die! I had to change the ending! Finally reaching backstage, I called out to their retreating backs: "Wait!" Chloe was the first to recognize my voice. She pushed them, hurrying them forward. "Mom, let's go quickly, I'm feeling so dizzy." Mrs. Sterling, about to turn back, was also held by Chloe, who pressed her head down. I heard Liam’s footsteps approaching from behind me. In desperation, I shouted, "She's a fake! I'm your real daughter!" 3 Mrs. Sterling turned immediately. Upon seeing my face, she gasped. "You... you look exactly like me!" She looked at me, then at Chloe, who only bore a slight resemblance to her. Mr. Sterling, startled, stepped forward, wanting to examine my face more closely. I quickly said, "I'm your daughter! She's an impostor!" [THE PROTAGONIST IS FINALLY STANDING UP FOR HERSELF! GIVE THAT ANTAGONIST A SLAP!] Just as I finished reading the comments, a hand grabbed my shoulder, forcefully pulling me back. Liam's voice was filled with barely concealed panic as he scolded me. "Emmy, this isn't our place. Come back with me, be good." "Hey!" Mrs. Sterling instinctively reached out to pull me, but Chloe tightly hugged her. Two lines of tears streamed down Chloe's face. "Mom, don't you believe me?" Mrs. Sterling’s heart immediately ached, and she embraced Chloe, comforting her. "Of course I believe you, Chloe, it's just..." I understood her meaning. With me looking so much like her, how could she not have doubts? "Mrs. Sterling, I was abducted when I was two years old! When I was taken, I was wearing a green T-shirt, black pants, and white shoes! I also remember there was a mountain behind our house, covered in peach trees! I remember being carried up the mountain to pick peaches, and being scared by a snake until I cried!" After rattling off my memories from before I was two, Mrs. Sterling's eyes reddened, and she choked, unable to speak. Mr. Sterling nodded repeatedly. "Yes, the next day, I had all the snakes on the mountain driven away, but our daughter was already gone..." Behind them, Chloe’s face turned grim. She quickly exchanged a glance with Liam. "Emmy Sis, how could you do this to me?" Hearing her cry, Mrs. Sterling turned and asked, "Chloe, you two know each other?" "Mom, this is a friend Liam and I made at the orphanage. We grew up together. Everything she just said is what I've told you before. Emmy Sis, I treated you like a real sister and shared my memories with you. How could you turn around and try to deceive my parents?" Liam also walked over, facing me, his face darkening. "Emily Holloway, Chloe has repeatedly tolerated your behavior, why can't you just leave her alone?" Mr. Sterling hesitated. "Has she bullied Chloe?" "Yes, Mr. Sterling. Chloe is kind-hearted and didn't want to upset you, which is why she didn't tell you. But I can't stand Emily Holloway's malicious intentions! This Emily Holloway has been jealous of Chloe since childhood. At the orphanage, she would snatch Chloe's toys, and when we went to school, she'd tear up her homework. Later, she grew jealous that Chloe was found by you and became wealthy, so she specifically asked me how you found Chloe. I told her it was because Chloe looked a lot like Mrs. Sterling, so she deliberately went and had plastic surgery to look like Mrs. Sterling!" A thunderbolt exploded in my mind. I looked at Liam in disbelief, my body trembling uncontrollably. The eighteen years of friendship we shared felt utterly foreign to me in that moment. Especially the sinister, vicious look in his eyes—a side of Liam I had never seen before. When I spoke, tears were already falling. "You're lying! We grew up together; don't you know what I look like?!" "She's the one who impersonated me to claim kinship, and you're slandering me by saying I had plastic surgery!" His expression grew even more sinister, his eyes narrowing as he gritted his teeth. "Precisely because we grew up together, I know exactly what kind of person you are, and I know what you used to look like." He enlarged a photo and handed it to Mr. and Mrs. Sterling. He pointed to a girl with contorted features, bearing no resemblance to Mrs. Sterling, and said, "This is Emily Holloway's original appearance." [THAT JERK IS TOO RUTHLESS, SHOWING OTHER PEOPLE'S PHOTOS TO MRS. STERLING.] [PROTAGONIST, DON’T CRY, QUICKLY FIND YOUR SELFIES!] I quickly pulled out my phone, but froze when I opened my photo album. Three years ago, when Liam and I were boating on the lake, my phone fell into the water and broke. My new phone only had photos from the past few years; there were no records from the orphanage at all! [DAMN IT, THE JERK AND ANTAGONIST WERE PREPARED THREE YEARS AGO, NOT GIVING THE PROTAGONIST A CHANCE TO RECOVER.] Seeing me clutching my phone in silence, Mr. and Mrs. Sterling also saw that I had no evidence, and exchanged helpless glances. Chloe seized the opportunity to quietly sob. "Emmy Sis, I know you're upset about not getting the scholarship. If you really need money, I can give it to you. I'll give you anything you want, please, just don't try to take my parents away from me..." Mrs. Sterling pulled Chloe into her embrace. "There, there, child, don't cry. Your mom and dad will always be your mom and dad; we won't abandon you. Let's go home." Mr. Sterling also cast a displeased glance at me, gesturing for the bodyguards to escort me away. [OH NO, THE PROTAGONIST HAS NO EVIDENCE!] The moment the bodyguards grabbed me to lead me away, I urgently said, "We can do a DNA test!" 4 The moment I said that, Mr. and Mrs. Sterling looked at me with even greater disappointment. Liam and Chloe, meanwhile, smirked confidently. "Emily Holloway, I understand you're unwilling to give up after seeing how wealthy the Sterlings are... but Mr. Sterling has been a titan in the business world for years; how could he not have thought of doing a DNA test?" Liam's voice was laced with derision. "It's precisely because he did one that Mr. Sterling confirmed Chloe is their daughter!" I looked at the mockery in Liam’s eyes. Just as I was about to retort, I suddenly remembered that lake trip three years ago. After my phone fell, he immediately jumped into the lake to retrieve it. Anxious, I followed him in. Later, we were sent to the hospital for examination. In my daze, a lot of my hair was pulled out, and more than a dozen vials of blood were drawn... [DAMN THOSE JERK AND ANTAGONIST! THEY REALLY LEFT NO LOOPHOLES!] [NOW WHAT WILL THE PROTAGONIST DO? SHE HAS ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE.] A few students passing by backstage overheard and found it amusing. "Emily Holloway is usually so poor she can't even afford a decent meal. She's probably dreaming of becoming a rich family's daughter, huh?" "No wonder I saw you running so frantically earlier. Were you afraid of missing your chance to become a pauper turning into a princess?" The taunts crashed around my ears, suffocating me. After leaving the orphanage, I had been working non-stop to repay my student loans, pinching every penny. I cut off all social interaction; apart from Liam and Chloe, I had no other friends. I just wanted to pay off my student loans, feel completely unburdened, and go find my parents. But to others, all this looked like evidence that I wanted to be a rich man's daughter. "Mom, I feel terrible. Let's go home..." Chloe said pitifully. Mrs. Sterling quickly embraced her and started to walk away. Mr. Sterling gave a look, and the bodyguards were already pushing me towards the exit. In desperation, I gritted my teeth and said, "Mrs. Sterling, have you checked the birthmark on her foot?" The three of them stopped. Mrs. Sterling looked at me, then at Chloe, but said nothing. I continued, "Other things can change, but a birthmark cannot." Chloe panicked. "My birthmark faded as I grew up; that's normal!" "Is that so?" I challenged. "Then can you tell everyone the shape of the birthmark, right now?" Liam's face darkened. He said, "Chloe is shy. I'll tell you. The birthmark was long and narrow." "Yes, long and narrow!" Chloe echoed. But when she confidently looked at her parents, she saw their expressions had changed. Mrs. Sterling, with a complex expression, gently released Chloe and turned to look at me. Mr. Sterling, too, lowered his head in thought for a few seconds, then gestured for the bodyguards to release me. Liam, still confused, scanned the surroundings, then suddenly realized something. "The mark you mentioned, that was actually caused by my adoptive father whipping me at their home. My adoptive mother, fearing I'd run away, would pour red ink into the wound every day, which made it look like a birthmark." Chloe was trembling so violently her teeth chattered. I, tears blurring my vision, looked at Mrs. Sterling. "My birthmark is on my inner thigh. It’s so private, I never told anyone, not even friends I grew up with. It's an irregular shape, but I clearly remember my mother telling me during baths that it was a star. Mama said I was her and Papa's little star." Mrs. Sterling was already sobbing uncontrollably, running over to embrace me tightly. "My little star, how much you’ve suffered all these years..." Chloe finally reacted, shouting in rage, "Emily Holloway! You dared to trick me!" I scoffed coldly. "You tricked me first! Liam pretended to love me, extracted my memories of being abducted, then fed them to you. He even deliberately broke my phone and drew my blood, all so you could solidify your position as the Sterling family's daughter! And today, he tricked me into going to the dining hall, planning to use hot soup to disfigure me, so Mom would never find me!" Mr. Sterling's face was grim. He ordered the bodyguards to apprehend them. Chloe, desperate, kicked Liam's leg. "Useless! Didn't you say you knew her body inside out?!" Liam, also frantic, immediately kicked her back and added a forceful shove. "She was always busy with work-study; she wouldn't let me touch her!" I tightly clutched my mother’s hand, terrified that this hard-won familial bond would be snatched away again. "Mom, I almost didn't get to see you." I looked up. "Let's do a DNA test right now, on the spot!"
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